Reshaping welfare regimes in Latin America? Transformations in family policy and inequality in the Southern Cone

ARZA, CAMILA

Milán

Seminario; Social and Political Sciences Seminar; 2019

Departamento de Ciencias Sociales y Políticas, Universita delgi Studi di Milano

Over the past one and a half decade social policy expanded in Latin America in a context of economic growth and progressive governments. Public expenditures grew and the coverage of social security and social assistance expanded to reach a wider population. In Southern Cone countries (Argentina, Chile and Uruguay) featuring the most developed social protection systems, family policies also developed during the ?pink tide.? Argentina and Uruguay implemented mixed systems of child allowances that reached the highest coverage rates of the region, Chile expanded access to early child education and care (to also reach the highest coverage of 0-2 years old children), and both Uruguay and Chile reformed child-related leave policies to facilitate work-family reconciliation and parental co-responsibility. At the same time, these policies were implemented in a context of (1) structural inequalities in the distribution of both income and access to quality (formal) work and social security; (2) a process of stratified growth in women?s labour market participation which coexists with persistently high inequalities in the gender distribution of work and care; and (3) a process of demographic change characterised by a stratified drop in fertility to lower-replacement levels and population ageing. How far have new arrangements contributed to overcome social stratification and gender inequalities? How have policy legacies contributed to promote and hinder these developments? What can be expected after both the economic prosperity of the commodity boom and the ?pink tide? have both come to an end? The seminar will discuss these issues and reflect on the implications and prospects of these policy innovations on social stratification.